Holistic evaluation makes admissions fair

By Janina Montero

UCLA’s Academic Senate voted last month to adopt a new admissions process that will be implemented in the fall 2007 freshman class: a “holistic” model in which each application will be reviewed and evaluated in its entirety.

This is a major change in the admissions process at UCLA, where the applicant pool is stunning: More than 47,000 students apply on average, the vast majority of them UC-eligible. What’s more, the university can only admit about 25% of the applicants for some 4,700 places.

The holistic approach is a fair and judicious method of assessment designed to avoid admissions decisions on the basis of narrow differences in quantitative criteria, such as small variances in high school GPAs or standardized test scores.

The UCLA faculty’s move toward a holistic model is intended to make the university more accessible to the most qualified and academically competitive students as the university continues to look for students who reach beyond academic excellence and demonstrate outstanding personal achievement, distinctive talents and the potential to make meaningful contributions to the campus and to the world.

To that end, the Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools, the UCLA faculty committee that oversees undergraduate admissions policies, recently looked at models of holistic admissions used by schools such as Stanford, MIT, UC Berkeley and the Ivies.

Prior to UCLA’s adoption of the holistic model, an applicant’s assessment was conducted in three parts — academic review, personal achievement and life challenges. Two readers reviewed the academic portion; a third assessed the sections pertaining to personal achievement and life challenges. Each section was given a score. Under the new model, the review of each application will be an integrated process that will consider the full record of a student’s achievements and experiences, as well as the challenges faced, and provide a more carefully individualized and qualitative assessment.

Two readers will review each application for the College of Letters and Science, and the overall score will be averaged; if there are meaningful discrepancies, the application will require further review. For the arts and engineering schools, the admissions office will review the application once, and the schools will do their own assessments.

Diversity is a very important goal for the university, and there is an essential need to reach it by exploring a number of avenues, including partnerships with faculty, students, alumni and community leaders. The low number of enrolled African Americans and other underrepresented students is a complex issue caused by many factors, and no single strategy will quickly solve this serious crisis, especially since California law prohibits the consideration of race, ethnicity, color, national origin and gender in admissions decisions.

Selecting the very best students from across the entire pool of UC-eligible applicants is crucial for our public mission and for the excellence of our educational environment.

I endorse the new holistic process with enthusiasm, but much work lies ahead. This is an undertaking that will require extraordinary efforts. But we are committed to doing everything we can to make the admissions processes fair, all-inclusive and accessible to all students.

Montero is vice chancellor of student affairs.